In both an online savings account and in a conservative asset allocation fund, which also doubles as my 'operating fund' for large unexpected bills such as health-care, new car etc. Neither are counted as investments.

Have a large taxable acccount invested solely in equities (for now) and place my cash needs inside my 457. Have about 1 year of spending needs in a stable value fund. Can always do as is described in the wiki if need be:

I do this too. But note that I got there by chasing a bonus ($500 for $50000 deposit). If you want to get more yield safely out of your emergency fund and are up for the hassle of switching accounts around, you can use it to grab new account bonuses periodically...

I keep half in Capital One MM @1% to roll into checking account quickly in case of larger than expected bills, car repairs, etc., and the other half in I bonds, which I don't expect to touch unless there is a true emergency. I don't count these towards my AA.

I also keep a small amount of munis in my taxable account so that if I need to draw from taxable, I can do so without worrying about tax implications. I don't have any built up carryover losses. The muni bonds are counted towards my AA, but are a small fixed amount... currently about 2% of the portfolio. If I can TLH effectively in the future and build up some carryover losses, I might move that small amount of bonds into tax deferred, where I have the rest of my bond allocation.

I "co-mingle" short-term cash needs (known spending needs for the next year or so) and true emergency funds (for unforeseeable emergencies). The aggregate of those two categories is spread across multiple cash or near-cash accounts:

Most is in Barclays online savings account (earning a whopping 1%), some is with a big brick and mortar bank (basically 0% return), a bit is with my credit union and a smaller regional bank, some is still stashed in my IRA in a CD ladder, and a wee bit is in a defined maturity corporate bond ETF. I don't worry much about return on this money - just stability and ease of withdrawal. Mostly I am currently short of inflation and am willing to live with that for this segment. I'm retired, wife nearly so.

Have a large taxable acccount invested solely in equities (for now) and place my cash needs inside my 457. Have about 1 year of spending needs in a stable value fund. Can always do as is described in the wiki if need be:

maniminto wrote:...
Can you please share which stable value fund you're using in your taxable account?

I'm not avenger, but the structure of stable value funds is not compatible with taxable accounts. I'd be very surprised if you find one available.

The way stable value funds work, in concept and often in practice, is they invest in short- to intermediate-term bonds to earn more interest than money market instruments, and also pay an insurance company, or more than one, to guarantee a stable $1.00 per share value. The insurer takes on the risk in return for money, just like usual.

Because at least in concept the return is based on longer-than-money-market instruments, the funds lag bond yield changes. If yields are going up, they go up slower, and if down, they go down slower.

To keep the premiums reasonable insurers in their contracts have an escape hatch: if the value of the underlying bonds goes down too much, and how much that is varies by stable value fund, they can delay redemption until enough of them mature. Therefore, even though there typically isn't (and may never yet have been) fluctuation of per-share value, there is liquidity risk. Your holding might not go down, but it might not be available to redeem and invest in something else for quite a while.

Stable value funds are found in 401(k)s and that sort of thing, where participant options are often limited and assets remain for a long time, which is what makes the insurance wrapper work. In a taxable account, with unlimited choice, investors would race to abandon the fund as soon as anything better appeared, which would break the insurance model.

Higher expected but not guaranteed returns everywhere, and especially in fixed income but everywhere, associate themselves with increased risk, even if the particular character of the risk isn't immediately apparent.

I have a question about Ally Bank. Applied for savings/checking just before Jan 1 and wanted to get in on the 1.25% no penalty 11mo CD. Well the application is still languishing and they needed a photocopy of wife's drivers license. So we missed out on the 1.25%. Not very impressed with Ally right now. Is this typical?

I recently moved most my savings (About $85,000) to Ally. There were a few issues but now all is ok. I got the 1.25% CD just in time but it took them weeks to correct the CD rate for me. I also opened a Savings Acct. I decided to keep about $1,000 in my checking at the local CU I've had for years because my SO and family have accounts there making it easy for instant transfers, and it links right up to my Ally account. I would definitely move your money over to Ally or any other 1% savings, especially if you have a lot in savings. I wish I would've made the move much sooner.

Have a large taxable acccount invested solely in equities (for now) and place my cash needs inside my 457. Have about 1 year of spending needs in a stable value fund. Can always do as is described in the wiki if need be:

Can you please share which stable value fund you're using in your taxable account?

There is no stable value fund in my taxable account.

I have a taxable account invested solely in equities (as noted above). I have 12 month's spending value invested in a stable value fund in my retirement account.

If I need money, I sell equities in my taxable account. At the same time, I sell stable value fund and buy equities within my retirement account. So my I essentially don't change my allocation (or sell in a down market), and can place my cash needs inside my retirement account. It is tax efficient, and I take advantage of my stable value fund earning 3%. Note there is no distribution from the retirement account.

I keep 3 months full expenses in an online savings account at Synchrony, which pays 1.05%. But I'm thinking about switching to Ally because Synchrony's servers don't play well with USAA, so I can't add my Synchrony account to my USAA dashboard for one-stop monitoring of all my accounts (which is one thing I definitely enjoy about USAA - using it as my pan-financial control center, even for non-USAA brokerages and retirement accounts).

I just started putting money into I-bonds. Assuming I continue: it means that 10k (or 15k if I do the pre-pay taxes trick) will be perpetually locked up for up to a year, but I was already keeping >12 mo. in the emergency fund, so I can withstand having 10k tied up for a few months.

We keep all of ours at VG Prime Money Market. It's yield is now up to .76%. The local bank isn't that high. For simplicity, and having the ability to write checks from the account, we like Prime MM. It's not worth it , IMO, to search online for a higher 1/4% and have to keep track of another statement.

I am constantly tempted to chase rates and move money all around for bonuses.

If I were single, I'd be all over the bonuses. However, I'm not. I feel like I owe it to my wife, should something unforeseen happen to me, to keep things simple for her and not spread out all over the place.

I've got the EF in Capital One 360 MM earning 1%

and our primary savings in Capital One 360 Savings earning .75%

Hopefully, our earnings and portfolios will grow enough that we do not need to have the EF. But, until that happens, I am extremely grateful that I have this money available.

I have a question about Ally Bank. Applied for savings/checking just before Jan 1 and wanted to get in on the 1.25% no penalty 11mo CD. Well the application is still languishing and they needed a photocopy of wife's drivers license. So we missed out on the 1.25%. Not very impressed with Ally right now. Is this typical?

I recently moved most my savings (About $85,000) to Ally. There were a few issues but now all is ok. I got the 1.25% CD just in time but it took them weeks to correct the CD rate for me. I also opened a Savings Acct. I decided to keep about $1,000 in my checking at the local CU I've had for years because my SO and family have accounts there making it easy for instant transfers, and it links right up to my Ally account. I would definitely move your money over to Ally or any other 1% savings, especially if you have a lot in savings. I wish I would've made the move much sooner.

Thanks for the info gator. Just frustrated I missed the 1.25% 11 mo CD. I do have another HYSA which I'm relatively happy with at .95 but want to start moving some $ to CD. I like the ability in Ally to specify what happens at term, can just cash the CD into savings and not worry about windows to make the conversion.

Have a large taxable acccount invested solely in equities (for now) and place my cash needs inside my 457. Have about 1 year of spending needs in a stable value fund. Can always do as is described in the wiki if need be:

Can you please share which stable value fund you're using in your taxable account?

There is no stable value fund in my taxable account.

I have a taxable account invested solely in equities (as noted above). I have 12 month's spending value invested in a stable value fund in my retirement account.

If I need money, I sell equities in my taxable account. At the same time, I sell stable value fund and buy equities within my retirement account. So my I essentially don't change my allocation (or sell in a down market), and can place my cash needs inside my retirement account. It is tax efficient, and I take advantage of my stable value fund earning 3%. Note there is no distribution from the retirement account.

I am thinking of doing the same with my EF. I have a stable value fund paying 4% in my 401K. I have a question though. Did you allocate more equities to the EF than the desired EF size? So if the market is down when your emergency occurs, you'll still have access to the fixed dollar amount you needed (e.g.12 months of living expenses). I am thinking of putting 30% more equities than the desired size of EF..

Have a large taxable acccount invested solely in equities (for now) and place my cash needs inside my 457. Have about 1 year of spending needs in a stable value fund. Can always do as is described in the wiki if need be:

Can you please share which stable value fund you're using in your taxable account?

There is no stable value fund in my taxable account.

I have a taxable account invested solely in equities (as noted above). I have 12 month's spending value invested in a stable value fund in my retirement account.

If I need money, I sell equities in my taxable account. At the same time, I sell stable value fund and buy equities within my retirement account. So my I essentially don't change my allocation (or sell in a down market), and can place my cash needs inside my retirement account. It is tax efficient, and I take advantage of my stable value fund earning 3%. Note there is no distribution from the retirement account.

I am thinking of doing the same with my EF. I have a stable value fund paying 4% in my 401K. I have a question though. Did you allocate more equities to the EF than the desired EF size? So if the market is down when your emergency occurs, you'll still have access to the fixed dollar amount you needed (e.g.12 months of living expenses). I am thinking of putting 30% more equities than the desired size of EF..

You should definitely account for market downturns. I think the wiki recommends putting twice the amount you might need in equities in your taxable account. I have 5 years of expenses worth of equities in my taxable account.

I have a small amount ($1000-$2000) in the savings account associated with my BOA checking. I try not to ever have more in this count b/c there's really no interest. I think of it more as a slush fund and just keep it so I can transfer funds immediately. I keep 2-3 month living expenses in an online savings account and I'm currently working on building this account to 6 months. I have 6 months of living expenses in an Ally CD and would like to grow that to 12 months of living expenses. I also have separate EFs for home repair emergencies and emergency vet bills. Sadly, I will have to tap both of those this month due to a leaking water heater and a cat with a kidney infection.

Have a large taxable acccount invested solely in equities (for now) and place my cash needs inside my 457. Have about 1 year of spending needs in a stable value fund. Can always do as is described in the wiki if need be:

Can you please share which stable value fund you're using in your taxable account?

There is no stable value fund in my taxable account.

I have a taxable account invested solely in equities (as noted above). I have 12 month's spending value invested in a stable value fund in my retirement account.

If I need money, I sell equities in my taxable account. At the same time, I sell stable value fund and buy equities within my retirement account. So my I essentially don't change my allocation (or sell in a down market), and can place my cash needs inside my retirement account. It is tax efficient, and I take advantage of my stable value fund earning 3%. Note there is no distribution from the retirement account.

I am thinking of doing the same with my EF. I have a stable value fund paying 4% in my 401K. I have a question though. Did you allocate more equities to the EF than the desired EF size? So if the market is down when your emergency occurs, you'll still have access to the fixed dollar amount you needed (e.g.12 months of living expenses). I am thinking of putting 30% more equities than the desired size of EF..

You should definitely account for market downturns. I think the wiki recommends putting twice the amount you might need in equities in your taxable account. I have 5 years of expenses worth of equities in my taxable account.

I don't have twice the amount yet I do have a taxable account but its mostly in Total International and Small Cap Value (for diversification purposes) so it won't work for EF, as my 401k is in Stable Value and S&P 500 (no good small cap or international options).
I was going to use S&P500 in taxable for EF (or should I use Total Stock market to avoid wash sale?). I guess for now I'll keep EF in HY Savings and try to build larger taxable to bring it to twice the EF?

Biglaw Investor wrote:
Mine is in LifeStrategy Conservative Growth (as another poster mentioned up above). At a certain point once your net worth gets positive and you have access to credit cards, etc., I don't see the point in keeping a cash emergency fund.

I could not disagree more with the bolded statement. The EF is not just to actually pay for unexpected expenses, but to cover for job loss. If you lose your job, how much access to credit will you have? What if at the same time the market is crashing? This means you must sell shares at the worst possible time.

And? True, there's a correlation between job losses and the market, but I don't think it's as strong as you think. You're much, much more likely to lose your job during a period of market stability or expansion. To lock up a significant amount of money in cash (which has a very real cost), on the possibility that you'll lose your job at the height of a market crash and that you'll be unable to find a new job and that you'll be forced to sell securities, smacks of not being worth it. Plus, it'd be a pity to get caught up in the mental accounting fallacy anyway protecting your emergency fund as if it's a different type of money from your entire portfolio. If you treat your money as one big pot, allocated according to your risk tolerance, I think you'll do far better than if you mentally separate your accounts into "investments" and an "emergency fund" account earning a negative real return.

Of course, at the end of the day everyone needs to be able to sleep at night, so there's no wrong answer (except for the financial gurus to say that everyone needs a cash emergency fund).

Our, local CU offers 3% on up to 20K if you are willing to have automatic deposit and use of a debit card. This is about the best, guaranteed return I know, if you are willing to use a debit card. We are not and have ours at about 1%. There are other factors that make this acceptable for us.

Somewhere north of $500 in a drawer (undisclosed location)
A week or so living expenses at a local bank (this is mostly just me being paranoid about some sort of catastrophe where it is difficult to get online funds in short order but where local banks might dispense some cash if you have a recent statement... plus so we have a local relationship in case we ever need a small business loan or something... plus it's where Treasury Direct dispenses to and that is a PITA to change)
Two weeks or so in Ally checking
A few months or so in Ally savings. We do envelope based budgeting with You Need A Budget so this is all earmarked towards various future expenses (roof replacement, car replacement, vacation) but in reality if there was an emergency we could reorganize our priorities (e.g., put off buying the new car or finance it) and tap some of this. It's at four months right now because of some anticipated major expenses in the next year or so, might go down to 2-3 months after that.
1.5 months in Ibonds.
3 months in intermediate munis.

It's a lot but it helps me sleep. Other than this, we have very few bonds in our portfolio (90/10, and I count the Ibonds and munis (but not the other stuff) as part of the bond portfolio). So having a lot of available funds in low-risk investments balances out the extremely aggressive investment portfolio for long-term savings.

I don't want to rely on HELOCs or credit cards for my emergencies. Having the ready cash is a sleep-at-night factor for me. I would be OK selling stocks if it was a personal emergency and the market wasn't down, but even then I'd rather not pay the capital gains taxes if I can avoid them. More likely I would pull from the Ibonds and munis and then rebalance in my retirement accounts.

I haven't looked into rewards checking partly out of laziness, partly because I am skeptical as to how long those deals will last (Ally has had market-leading rates for savings accounts or close to it for almost a decade now, so I am loyal in return) and partly just to keep things simple -- we have enough accounts and cards and bills already.

In terms of where I would advise the OP to put his / her funds, Ally savings is below inflation but intermediate munis have pretty low yields right now and are subject to interest rate risk. Ibonds are doing OK at the present but I have also been burned with some six months stretches at 0% so it's not a bulletproof solution. It's also easier to get cash out of Ally if you need to write a big check on the spot. There's no magic bullet so I just split the baby, somewhat arbitrarily.

I've had a good experience so far with Goldman Sachs Bank (now called "Marcus"). They're at 1.5% now, recently bumped it up from 1.3%. They seem committed to offering a savings rate on the higher end. Also, just started getting into I-Bonds this month. Seems like a great option for an e-fund as it's inflation protected. The i-bonds I purchased this month are at 2.57%.

One the topic of using a HELOC or credit cards instead of an emergent fund, I experienced both being reduced/eliminated in 2008. My HELOC was cancelled and called due with 30 days notice. My credit cards had their limits reduced from $20k to $5k. This was all without any job loss/change on my end.

Mine is a bit fuzzy. Combination of checking account with online bank, money market account with the same bank, savings account with a different brick-and-mortar bank, and I have some bonds that I could draw on if things went really pear-shaped (specifically, a tax-exempt bond ETF and a ladder of individual short-term treasuries — some maturing every month — held in a brokerage account).

I keep 2 tiers, or layers, of money to cover unforeseen expenses. This first is an extra $500 in my local bank's checking account beyond the minimum needed to avoid account fees. The money is highly liquid, as I can write a personal check or withdraw it as cash from an ATM. I often have to tap into this money to cover small, unforeseen expenses which arise from month to month.

The second tier is $40k in an intermediate-term muni bond fund which has checkwriting privileges. I hate having any large amount of money tied up in an account earning zilch or nearly zilch. This fund earns about 2-2.5% and it is mostly tax-free. I am willing to risk a small loss of principal (the NAV varies but not a whole lot) if I have to redeem funds from the account. It is very rare I have to take money out of the account, as I have averaged less than one per year in the 24 years I have been in this fund. Meanwhile, the fund earns about $90 per month in interest.